For obvious reasons, I felt a strong urge to head to Kyoto for the day yesterday. Fushimi Inari was having their largest non-Hatsumode festival, Motomiya0sai, and that seemed like as good a pretext as any. Taiko, local art and a lantern light-up are the themes of the matsuri, and obviously Fushimi Inari at night was quite a thing (though a friendly cat seemed to be the main draw for most). Also stopped by Kenninji (where I rang the bell on New Year’s Eve), Kyoto’s oldest Zen temple.
Kyoto abides – but the pain lingers. And it will for a long, long time I expect. But this is a city that’s dealt with countless tragedies over its history so unfortunately, the locals have a lot of practice.
leongsh
July 21, 2019 at 11:41 amThe cat looks stressed and cornered.
Guardian Enzo
July 21, 2019 at 11:47 amNah, she was loving it. She was hanging out with people for ages – seeking out petters.
Arabesque
July 21, 2019 at 12:22 pmIt might seem odd, but your post helped me a lot in putting things in context to how this tragedy will be seen in the times to come. The loss of lives will never make the pain go away, but you are right, the city had seen its fair share of tragedy, and it will (and the KyoAni as well) manage to recover.
Thanks for that.
Guardian Enzo
July 21, 2019 at 12:42 pmOn some level, I think that was why I needed to go.